Ok, I’ve been searching the forum pretty extensively, and reading thoughts about a variety of mind map and related apps, from MindNode to iThoughts, Curio, even OmniGraffle (which I own)
I wonder if there are (so far, OmniGraffle sort of can do it) any apps where I can create a corkboard and just drag items from DT into it, and preview them - ideally, I’d love to even be able to edit rtf, md from there - but I know I’m getting into la-la land
What are my needs, really?
To be able to use a 2D surface to put arbitrary (i.e., dragged or pasted) items, link them, but keeping the “originals” in DT. Well, if I could edit say rtfs, mds in this 2D surface and have this update the DT items, would be great. Again, maybe I’m just day dreaming.
small adds: Curio, for example, adds anything dragged or pasted to its own library; for resolving links, most mindmaps think pasted DT links are bad URLs…
As far as I know, dragging files between apps always results in a copy of the file being created at the destination.
With DEVONthink, you could get an item link (by right-clicking on an item and choosing “Copy as Item Link”). You could paste that link into your corkboard app, but you wouldn’t get a preview or be able to edit. Clicking on the link would open the item in DEVONthink.
If you need a preview or editor in your corkboard, that can be done with Obsidian. You can add a .md or .pdf file to an Obsidian canvas and preview or edit it in place.
But: that file has to already be in the Obsidian vault - dragging it from DEVONthink would create an independent copy without a link to DEVONthink.
If you want the file to stay in DEVONthink, the only way I can think of is having it in an Obsidian vault and indexing that vault in DEVONthink. That’s how I do it.
I’m not sure I’d recommend Obsidian canvasses as corkboards - they are pretty limited. But for someone using Obsidian already, it could be a good solution.
PS: Obsidian can only display .md, .pdf, and images.
shiiko, thanks for the suggestion - it is a very interesting app - but still works the same as the others, has its own library, so items get imported. Links from DT do open the original, but in a Brain itself I can’t see a preview.
Edit: Shiiko, I saw your posts in The Brain forum, and well, I will try and see what happens if I index a brain folder (as compared to Obsidian as per Dori’s comment)
Thanks Doris, yep - The Brain (suggested by shiiko) does as you describe as well.
I understand your comments about indexing an Obsidian vault - most of the content I’m working on is already inside DT though, so I hesitate moving it on to Obsidian. It is an option though!
To clarify: you wouldn’t have to “move your content to Obsidian”. An Obsidian vault is just a reference to an arbitrary folder in your file system, exactly like an indexed folder in DEVONthink.
So if the files you want to use in corkboards are already in one group (or group hierarchy) in DEVONthink, you could just move them into one external folder and index that folder in DEVONthink and in Obsidian. But if those files are distributed across many groups in several databases, then this strategy probably wouldn’t be appropriate for you.
“dragging files between apps always results in a copy of the file being created at the destination.” This is an option. It can be set to only link. You can select either on the go.
In TB I can see and edit files from DT4 and vice-versa. They are just Markdown files. I have spent much time in TB editing DT4 files because the graphic presentation and tools for editing .MDs is better in TB than in DT4.
I also place links on each side to easily jump back and forth.
You don’t lose tags or any other metadata by moving files to an external folder - provided you do it this way:
Create a folder in Finder
Index that folder in DEVONthink
Inside DEVONthink, move the files into the new group that is the indexed folder
There is nothing you can do with imported files in DEVONthink that you can’t also do with indexed files. But you need to be aware of some pitfalls concerning deleting files and working with replicants.
If you want to try this with Obsidian, let me know, maybe I can help.
Hey thanks Doris! - I’ve downloaded Obsidian and have been playing with it - it would do 80% of what I need, I think, and it’s super capable. I’m pondering whether to export all the files (14k +) in one database to a Finder folder (as a duplicate of course) and try seriously on a small scale. One thing I will miss is creating ad-hoc smart groups, and examining items by tag, but, let’s see.
Oh, wait … 14k files is not a small scale for Obsidian. It is not a document management system like DEVONthink. It is mostly meant for writing and linking Markdown notes.
I would not replace DEVONthink with Obsidian, unless you are mainly working with .md files and a few pdfs.
I thought you just wanted to have a way to visually work with some of your files. The beauty of indexed folders in DEVONthink is that you can have the best of both worlds (working on the same files): Do your file management, searching, tagging, metadata etc. in DEVONthink with its highly performant database capabilities. Use Obsidian for editing and linking Markdown notes, and arranging them on a canvas - it’s much more convenient than DEVONthink in that regard.
Of course this is just my opinion - it depends very much on what kinds of documents you have and what you want to do with them.
I hear you. To me, DT is 99% perfect - I just would love to have a canvas / concept mapping capability. I would be using Tinderbox for that, if not for an enormous amount of friction when dealing with images (half of my 14k items) and some other tasks (other than that of course TB is also marvellous).
